Strings and Sticks: Dating the Enemy
by booklover1865
Summary: Freddy Jones and Ashlyn Ross have met, and they hate each other. What happens when they meet at a festival and their meddlesome bandmates set up some more meetings? T for cussing
1. Two Very Lucky Bands

Summer Hathaway walked into Dewey Finn's apartment that Wednesday like she usually did. The band was on the last verse of "School of Rock," the song that had earned them fans at such a young age. But that had been almost six years ago. They had many more songs, but none could top that one. But that is not the point. Today was different; Summer had news for her band, big news.

She waited for Dewey to finish out the last note, which normally would have taken a while, but she was watching him intently and once she caught his eye she gave him a look that told him it was a time to end the song. "I have news, we have been invited to a festival where we will meet other rock bands. These bands however are filled with just high school kids."

She did not get to finish the rest because there were shouts all around the room, the girls were excited because they would meet boys that didn't think the concept of girls in a band was stupid. The guys were excited because they didn't have to get weird looks from people twice their age when they walked around backstage.

Freddy, however, was not happy. He had met a guitarist from another band, and they had been rivals ever since. He knew she was going to be there too. Her name was Ashlyn Ross, when he had first seen her he thought she was gorgeous. All he could think about that day was how her blonde curls hit her shoulders and how hey gray eyes were so mysterious looking. And then he met her, he thought she was so sarcastic and could never take anything seriously.

"I'm not going," he said simply.

"You have to go," shouted Dewey.

"Oh, man. You don't think she's going to be there, do you?" asked Zack. Freddy shrugged. "Get over it! It has been three months."

"Who?" Tomeka asked eagerly.

"Ashlyn Ross," Freddy and Zack said together.

"Lead guitarist for 'The Humane',"

"Not to mention, the bane of my existence. "

"Okay, you don't even know if she's going to be there. Plus, there cannot be anything that's too bad about her," Summer said reasonably.

"Oh, but there is, she's sarcastic and snobby."

Meanwhile, Somewhere across town 

"We made it into 'The Young Rockers of America Festival'" cried Mandy Georges.

"I'm not going," Ashlyn Ross said as she rose from the plump beanbag chair that she was sitting on. "Freddy Jones will be there for sure. I can't stand that kid!"

"Oh, and why not?" asked the drummer Carla.

"He's self centered, stupid and-"

"Completely gorgeous," interrupted Zoey, the bass player.

"Yeah, right."

"So you don't mind if I make a move?"

"Yeah, I do! That means I'll have to see him more."

"I won't go," said Freddy and Ashlyn simultaneously.


	2. When Enemies Meet

Dewey had Freddy backed into a corner of his apartment, a look of determination in his eyes the day before the festival. "Listen, _Spazzy_, you are going to this thing even if I have to drag you by your toenails!"

"Fine, what ever! But if she's there, I will not hesitate to kill her."

"You would seriously hit a girl?" Alicia asked.

"I'd hit _this_ girl."

"I'm telling you Freddy, she is not that bad," Zack said.

"Then why don't you date her?"

"Maybe I will, she is pretty, that is all you could talk about after you saw her."

"She is pretty, but obnoxious!"

"Whatever man."

It just so happens that an almost similar conversation was happening at apartment 2C that same day, if only was as productive. "Ashlyn, if you don't go, I'll kill you!" shouted Zoey, her red hair flying around as she screamed.

"Kill me! Then I won't have to see Jones!"

"You are going and that's final," Carla reasoned.

"No I'm not!" bellowed Ashlyn, her fists clenched in anger. Her gray eyes scanned the room holding a glare with all of her band mates. And all of a sudden she stood from her chair and started towards the door.

"You know what? Fine Ashlyn, leave and we will replace you!" said Mandy.

Ashlyn stood in the doorframe holding Mandy's gaze. She smirked and said "Fine! Replace me," sounding as indifferently as she could. She walked out briskly, turned around one last time, looked at her band mates, and slammed the door.

"Good job Mandy! Where the hell are we going to find a guitar player by tomorrow?" screamed Carla, her green eyes darkening. "Stupid idiot!" she screamed as she threw a book from a nearby table at the wall.

"We won't," said Mandy calmly, "we are going to kidnap her, and force her to go instead." The girls all had a look of knowing on their face, they would set it up with Ashlyn's mom, get a spare key and drag her out of her house.

"I cannot believe that they want me to go within a mile of Jones, willingly!" said Ashlyn as she walked to her house, which was a few blocks away from Carla's apartment. It just so happened that Dewey's band practice let out early that day and was right across the street from Carla's place. Zack and Freddy crossed the street, deeply immersed in conversation when Zack hit someone, and knocked them to the ground.

"I'm so sorry," Zack said apologetically.

"Yeah, well. It's okay," said a mess of curls from the ground. She stood up and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She smiled at Zack and looked over at his friend who was backing away. Realization hit Ashlyn Ross like a ton of bricks. "Jones?" she asked incredulously. "Why me? I just quit my band, and now I have to see you?"

"Like it's a picnic to see you Ross, I thought we settled this rivalry crap, my band gets out at said time, and yours gets out at a different time, that way we never have to see each other."

"Spare me Jones! This is my 'said time' as you call it!"

"Wait, you are quitting your band?" he turned to Zack, "I'm for sure going now."

"I knew you'd be there. After all we met at the 'Rockers of America Festival', there's no reason you wouldn't be playing juniors, sure you're not too good for us?"

"Man, just leave it!" said Zack.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow, Ross. Oh, wait. That's right, I won't see you tomorrow. Later Ross!"

"Night, Jones," she sighed. "I'm getting sick of this, and now I have no band!"


	3. Another member, Another meeting

Dewey Finn and the rest of his band got ready and were to meet at his apartment at eleven am. The Humane had to meet much earlier than that. They had a plan to put into action.

Carla had called Mrs. Ross that night to set everything up. The girls were to meet at eight a.m. and get the spare key from the top of the doorframe. Then they would sneak up to Ashlyn's room, grab her, and drag her back to Carla's. Things didn't run smoothly. Zoey showed up late and had taken her parent's car; it had no muffler so the noise woke Ashlyn up.

"What the crap?"

"Get in," Carla said gesturing to the car.

"I'm out, remember? I left," said Ashlyn, her voice wavering a little bit. Ashlyn only had her band, seeing how clueless her parents were Ashlyn could all but die without them noticing. That is, unless, her friends called attention to her by making noise or spilling something on the tattered carpet that covered most of Ashlyn's 2 story, 3 bedroom house. She wanted to be back in the band, but she was never one to admit when she was wrong.

"We don't care! Get in the damn car!" said Zoey.

"Can I get dressed first?"

"Fine, do your hair and makeup in the car, but hurry up! We are going to be late!" Five minutes later Ashlyn was in the car wearing a short black skirt, crimson corset top, and her low tops. Ashlyn's style complemented the band, as Carla, Mandy, and Zoey wore virtually the same thing in different colors.

"Nice," said Carla. Ashlyn raised her eyebrows and smirked as if saying 'I know'. Zoey drove while Mandy helped Ashlyn with her knotted hair. "Mandy, just put it in a bun and let curls hang in her face, you have no choice," sighed Carla exasperatedly.

"Fine, and Ashlyn, since you are a big girl, can we trust you to put on your makeup?" said Zoey in a baby voice.

"Ha ha HA. I'm not that incompetent." Zoey sped along the freeway, and slammed her foot on the brake when traffic backed up. Because of this, Ashlyn's eyeliner ran the length of her face.

"Sorry y'all," said Zoey in her watered down southern accent. Ashlyn paid her no attention; she was trying to get the eyeliner off her face. "Great, just great! Jones will mock me forever." Mandy looked at Carla and they shared a smile.

"Why do you care?" asked Carla.

"Because having Jones having dirt on you is terrible, he never forgets."

"Is it that? OR are you just trying to look good for the young mister Jones?" suggested Mandy.

"Oh, Ashlyn's got herself a boy toy? I'm jealous," said Zoey from the front seat.

"Come off it, you guys. Jones and I are just enemies, that's it," reasoned Ashlyn as they pulled into the parking lot.

"Josie is meeting us here?" asked Zoey. Josie Perez was the keyboardist, who had happened to land herself detention all week, including that Saturday. Because of these circumstances she had missed both rehearsals that week, and she had detentions till 11 am. So she promised to meet her band mates at the festival, but Josie was notorious for lying and being late. So all the girls were surprised to see her on time.

"Hola chicas," called Josie, her black waves bouncing as she ran to meet them.

"You're early?" said Ashlyn disbelievingly.

"That's funny, cause usually it's Carla scowling at me saying 'you're late'," Josie replied, rolling her chocolate brown eyes. "My mom does that to 'Josephine, I cannot believe you are late'," said Josie mocking her mother's thick Spanish accent. They all laughed, causing people to look up and stare, specifically Dewey Finn.

Dewey looked up from the guitar he was strumming to look at the girls making all the noise. One had red hair that fanned around her, one was obviously Spanish: her dark skin, eyes and hair was a dead give away, one had fierce green eyes and hair that looked like chocolate, another girl had platinum blonde hair, fair skin and the bluest eyes anyone had ever seen. The last girl standing there seemed to be different, she laughed the loudest, her blonde curls bouncing (at least the free ones were), her gray eyes were defiant, even as she laughed jovially; she seemed familiar. That was when he saw it, the girls stood next to a car that had a bumper sticker that said 'Support the HUMANE' and it looked like someone cut out the 'society part'. These girls were the humane; Dewey called for Freddy. "Freddy! Freddy, it's your little girlfriend."

"Dewey, man, that's sick."

"She's pretty man, you were right."

"Too bad she's such a bitch," said Freddy smugly.

Ashlyn had noticed a guy watching her, and she saw him call out for someone. She hadn't heard who, but she didn't need to. For it wasn't long until Freddy Jones stood by the man and started talking to him. Now, none of Ashlyn's band mates (with the exception of Zoey) had ever seen him before, so they were shocked when a blonde shaggy haired boy dressed in an AC DC shirt was staring at their guitar player. "Freddy Jones," said Ashlyn simply.

"Mm, he is cute," said Zoey.

"He's checkin' you out Ash," urged Josie.

"More like glaring with hatred in his eyes," Ashlyn supplied.

"You are so blind to think he doesn't like you," Carla said solemnly.

"Is that her Freddy?" asked Tomika and Alicia.

"If by her you mean Freddy's _lover_, then yeah it's her," said Dewey menacingly.

"Shut up Dewey! I hate her," roared Freddy.

"I think we should go talk to Ashlyn, right guys?" suggested Dewey. Everyone but Freddy agreed.

"Ashy, he's bringing his band over," said Zoey.

"Aww, how cute! You're like meeting the in-laws!" teased Josie.

"Watch it Perez, I might have to kill you," said Ashlyn irritably.

Just as Josie was about to respond, Dewey walked over and said "Dewey Finn, School of Rock."

"Pleasure, Ashlyn Ross, The Humane. That's Zoey, Mandy, Josie, and Carla."

"Nice to meet you girls," said Dewey, he then went on to introduce his band mates, "and last but not least- oh wait, you know Freddy, don't you?"

"We've met briefly. Listen, we have our rehearsal set like, now, so we have to leave," said Ashlyn getting uncomfortable. "But can I talk to Jones for just one minute?" Freddy cocked an eyebrow. "Been talking about me?"

"Oh, right, like you haven't talked about me, your band mates were about to piss their pants they thought this was so funny." Once he said that, Ashlyn glared at him, and walked away.


	4. Set up and set ups

Ashlyn stood in that clearing for what seemed like an hour. 'He had the last word' she thought. Ashlyn did not like Freddy Jones at all and to lose a fight with him was a terrible let down. She thought about the entire conversation with Dewey and even the moments before that where he stared at her and then called Freddy over. "He said something about me to Jones, and it didn't look too good," she thought out loud.

Josie saw Ashlyn debating with herself and realized that they were late for their practice set. "Ashy! Let's go, man! We are late!" She then turned to Carla and said "You know you got it bad when you cant even fathom a conversation."

"That's Ashy for you."

"Ash! I'm serious, we are late," screamed Zoey.

"Jeez guys, chill. Get your crap and we'll go!" shouted Ashlyn. She had to completely forget Freddy Jones and do what she had come to the festival to do… and she was going to do exactly that.

O

Freddy was excited when he got back over to Dewey's van. He had never gotten the last word in, EVER. He was floating on a cloud until Summer walked by and said "Did she kiss you? You look happy."

"Summer that's gross! I wouldn't touch her with a 10 foot pole!"

"She's a cutie," said Dewey.

Freddy snapped, he jumped up on the roof of the van screamed "I DON"T LIKE HER!" and jumped down then stomped away towards the stage. He didn't realize until he got there that Ashlyn Ross was at the microphone with her guitar belting out the final note to a song. After she had finished her band mates clapped for her because she had nailed the song, then she looked up. Freddy Jones stood there awe-struck. He couldn't understand how that had come out of the girl he hated most in the world.

Ashlyn turned around and smirked and did a little mock bow. She was determined not to let Jones affect her, but she did take the look on his face as a complement. "I did it better back at the apartment," was what she said with a small smile.

"That's all you girls get! You go on at 4!" screamed the music coordinator.

"Alright later J.T." said Zoey, who happened to know the guy personally.

At the van Summer was talking to Tomika and said something that lit a spark in Tomika's head. "He over reacted so bad! How funny would it be if those two started to date?"

Tomika's mouth dropped. "What if they did? We could talk to The Humane girls and try to create a plan! It's blatantly obvious that they like each other!"

"We can try, I at least know Zoey will be into it." Almost no one knew that Summer and Zoey used to be step sisters and could convince each other to do almost anything. It was a touchy subject for the two since their parents had already gone through divorces before they met each other, but the girls had gotten really close and then had to separate.

I'll talk to her later thought Summer. She didn't have much more time to think on the subject because once again Freddy came in to the clearing with yet another dazed look on his face.

"Saw Ross's practice?" asked Zack. Freddy nodded. "She did well?" He nodded again.

"Her voice…" he trailed off. "It's…unexplainable."

That sealed the deal, Summer and Tomika were going to get these two together even if it killed them. Or until Ashlyn and Freddy killed each other.


End file.
